1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to garment packaging and display accessories, and, more particularly, to disposable liner panels for outer garments such as men's shirts, women's blouses, pajamas, and the like, which are folded into flat packages for transportation, storage, and sales display.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has become a common practice to package men's shirts, women's blouses, pajamas, and similar outer garments for transportation, storage, and retail sales display in such a way that the particular garment is folded over and attached to a supporting panel or liner of cardboard. The folded garment may then be inserted into a bag or flat carton of which at least the upper side is transparent, in order to permit visual inspection of the front side of the packaged garment.
Such a folding liner is disclosed in my earlier copending application Ser. No. 777,519, filed Mar. 14, 1977, the folding liner consisting of a rectangular center panel and a pair of inner and outer wing panels attached to each longitudinal side of the center panel, the lines of attachment between the center panel and inner wing panels, and between the inner and outer wing panels, respectively, serving as fold lines, being suitably weakened by fold line perforations. In the folded position, the wing panels of the initially flat folding liner are superposed over their respective lateral halves of the center panel, the outer wing panels thereby coming to lie between the inner wing panels and the center panel. In this position, the folded wing panels exert a clamping action on the garment between the inner and outer wing panels on the one hand, and between the outer wing panels and center panel on the other hand.
The assembly is maintained in its folded state by a flap-type closure which consists of a hinged flap formed from an integral partial cutout of one of the two inner wing panels and a cooperating closure notch in the other inner wing panel which is engageable by an incision of the hinged closure flap. The latter is preferably of elongated rectangular shape and located a short distance below the upper edge of the inner wing panel, extending transversely to the fold lines of the liner. The two longitudinal sides and the near transverse side of the rectangular closure flap are formed by a C-shaped cut through the liner material, while the distal transverse side of the flap remains attached to the inner wing panel of the folding liner, thereby forming a bending hinge.
At the beginning of the folding operation, before the flat folding liner is placed against the backside of the garment, the closure flap must be folded out of its cutout, towards that face of the liner which contacts the garment, so that the closure flap extends outwardly from the inner wing panel and partially overlaps the outer wing panel. The subsequent inward folding of the outer wing panels and underlying garment portions then exposes a length portion of the closure flap which, after the wing panels are completely folded onto the center panel, becomes fully exposed, reaching over the center line of the folded assembly, so that the closure flap can be hooked into the closure notch of the opposite inner wing panel.
This folding liner requires no accessory fasteners, like pins or clamps, the garment being clamped in superposed folded layers by the wing panels of the folding liner, and the folded wing panels, in turn, being safely maintained in their folded position by the flap-type closure. This closure, being an integral cutout of the folding liner, without increasing its overall size and material requirements, thus minimizes the material cost of the folding liner. However, it has been found to be a disadvantage that this closure requires specific manipulative steps at the beginning of the folding operation, thereby increasing the manual labor requirements in the folding operation.